§12-6-9a. Trust indenture.
The provisions of the trust indenture entered into by the
governor on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-six, with the West Virginia trust fund, inc., acting as the
trustee, are superseded by the following provisions:

(a) The board shall continue to hold each of the participant
plans specified by this article in a separate irrevocable trust as
trustee pursuant to the terms and provisions set forth in this
section and with the earnings and losses accounted for and charged
individually to each participant plan and trust: Provided: That
the board shall be authorized to invest the assets held in each
participant plan in any investment fund even though the board may
also invest non-401(a) moneys in the investment fund. Participant
plans, each declared by this section to be held in a separate
irrevocable trust, include, but are not limited to, the following
and any other plans that may be added to this section or otherwise
designated by the Legislature from time to time:

(1) The public employees' retirement system;

(2) The teachers' retirement system;

(3) The West Virginia state police retirement system;

(4) The death, disability and retirement fund of the division
of public safety;

(5) The judges' retirement system;

(6) The deputy sheriffs' retirement system;

(7) The pneumoconiosis fund;

(8) The workers' compensation fund; and

(9) The wildlife endowment fund.

(b) The Legislature hereby reserves the following rights and
powers:

(1) The right by supplemental agreement to amend, modify or
alter the terms of the trusts established by this section without
consent of the trustee, or any beneficiary, except that no
amendment to a trust which holds any 401(a) plan moneys may be made
which allows at any time for any part of the corpus or income
(other than the part that is required to pay taxes and
administration expenses) to be used for, or diverted to, purposes
other than for the exclusive benefit of the employees or their
beneficiaries in accordance with the requirements of section
401(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, as it may be amended from
time to time; and

(2) The right to request and receive additional information
from the trustee at any time.

(c) In the administration of the trusts created by this
article, the trustee has the following powers:

(1) To purchase, retain, hold, transfer and exchange and to
sell, at public or private sale, the whole or any part of the trust estate upon such terms and conditions as it considers advisable;

(2) To invest and reinvest the trust estate or any part of the
trust estate, in any kind of property, real or personal, including,
but not limited to, mortgage or mortgage participations, common
stocks, preferred stocks, common trust funds, investment funds
established by the board, bonds, notes or other securities,
notwithstanding the provisions of articles five and six, chapter
forty-four of this code;

(3) To carry the securities and other property held in trust
either in the name of the trustee or in the name of its nominee;

(4) To vote, in person or by proxy, all securities held in
trust, to join in or to dissent from and oppose the reorganization,
recapitalization, consolidation, merger, liquidation or sale of
corporations or property; to exchange securities for other
securities issued in connection with or resulting from any
transaction; to pay any assessment or expense which the trustee
considers advisable for the protection of its interest as holder of
the securities; to deposit securities in any voting trust or with
any protective or like committee or with a trustee depository; to
exercise any option appurtenant to any securities for the
conversion of any securities into other securities; and to exercise
or sell any rights issued upon or with respect to the securities of
any corporation, all upon terms the trustee considers advisable;

(5) To prosecute, defend, compromise, arbitrate or otherwise
adjust or settle claims in favor of or against the trustee or other
trust estate;

(6) To employ and pay from the trusts legal and investment
counsel, brokers and any other assistants and agents the trustee
considers advisable; and

(7) To develop, implement and modify an asset allocation plan
for each participant plan. The asset allocation plans shall be
implemented within the management and investment of the individual
trusts.

(d) All trust income shall be free from anticipation,
alienation, assignment or pledge by, and free from attachment,
execution, appropriation or control by or on behalf of, any and all
creditors of any beneficiary by any proceeding at law, in equity,
in bankruptcy or insolvency.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, in
the case of a trust which holds any 401(a) plan's money, it is
impermissible at any time for any part of the corpus or income to
be (within the taxable year or thereafter) used for, or diverted
to, purposes other than the exclusive benefit of the employees and
their beneficiaries in accordance with the requirements of section
401(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, as it may be amended from
time to time.

(f) The trustee may receive any other property, real or
personal, tangible or intangible, of any kind whatsoever, that may
be granted, conveyed, assigned, transferred, devised, bequeathed or
made payable to the applicable trust and all the properties shall
be held, managed, invested and administered by the trustee as
provided in this article.

(g) The trustee shall promptly cause to be paid to the state
from the applicable trust the amounts certified by the governor as
necessary for the monthly payment of benefits to the beneficiaries
of the trust.

(h) The trustee shall render an annual accounting to the
governor not more than one hundred twenty days following the close
of the fiscal year of each trust.

(i) No trust shall be invalid by reason of any existing law or
rule against perpetuities or against accumulations or against
restraints upon the power of alienation, but each trust shall
continue for the time necessary to accomplish the purposes for
which it is established.